TheSidewinder Posted February 26, 2010 Posted February 26, 2010 By now you already know we've changed our software, and the Domain associated with APC Forum. (And if you haven't noticed, then..... you really should find a new hobby.) This is the "plain vanilla" look of IP.Board v3. In the coming weeks, we'll be making additions to the site which we hope will improve your visits here. The major changes, of course, are the differences in the software between version 2 and version 3. Here are the details of a few of the new features, and I'll add more in the coming days. A ) The PM System - accessed via your User Controls. Click your login name in the upper-right corner of the screen, next to your Avatar, and choose "Messenger (X new)". 1) PM's are now called "Personal Conversations". There's no longer a need to "add a copy to self" when starting a new PM. It's automatic. You invite participants to the conversation, rather than CC a list of people. Whenever a member of a conversation replies to it, all other participants see it. 2) All your old PM's were preserved, but are now in an "Archival" state and cannot be reopened or replied to. Start a new conversation. The transition may be a little awkward, but you'll get the hang of it in no time. 3) In your Messenger, you can organize all PM's into folders. First create the folders, using the controls in the upper-left side of the main Messenger window. Then, use the checkboxes to the right of each PM to choose the ones you want to move as a group into the created folder. At the bottom of the page, there are drop-menu(s) with choices to move the PM's into the newly-created folders. 4) A PM created after the software upgrade, with a red X next to it, means the OTHER participant(s) of the conversation have deleted their copy. You cannot reply to a red X'd PM. All the old PM's have a red X next to them because, under the new software and PM system, there was no way to preserve the cross-linking between participants. They are preserved for your benefit and reference, but are now effectively "Read Only". B ) User Controls - As referenced above, the "User Controls" can be accessed by clicking your name in the upper-right corner of the screen. "My Settings" is the direct link to the main User Control Panel. 1) Experiment with your User Controls. You aren't likely to break anything. Add a personal photo and/or an avatar, change the way you upload (Regular or Flash uploader), create a Blog or Gallery, or manage your Friends. 2) Upload methods. There are two upload methods available. The "Regular" one which most of you are already familiar with, where you have to explicitly click "Attach File" (or similar wording) after browsing for a file to upload, and the new "Flash Uploader", which is dynamic and for some things allows a multi-select capability. Want to attach 3 pics to a post? Use the Flash Uploader, select all three in the browse window using the CTRL key to multi-select, click OK, and all files will begin uploading immediately, with a progress bar. When the files are uploaded, "attach" them to the post with the checkboxes in the list that appears in the Post Editor. EXPERIMENT! I think you'll find it handy. 3) Other Stuff. Well, I think you can figure out the rest of what's in the User Controls. If you can't, ask questions in this thread. We'll answer. C ) The Formulary Database is in the building phase as I write this. There will be two MAIN databases: Chemicals, and Formulas. More will be added, interfaced to the first two or stand-alone, according to user need and request. That's enough to digest for now. Sit back, enjoy the "new highway", and look for more in the upcoming weeks. If you have questions or suggestions, just ask!
qwezxc12 Posted February 26, 2010 Posted February 26, 2010 FYI, the APC thread at Passfire lists the new www.amateurpyro.com site...
TheSidewinder Posted February 26, 2010 Author Posted February 26, 2010 Excellent. Looks like the word is getting out. Mumbles is seeing to that, I'm sure.
TheSidewinder Posted February 26, 2010 Author Posted February 26, 2010 NOTE ON USING THE GALLERY AND DOWNLOADS! The process to upload files into the Downloads Manager, and images/media into the Gallery, has changed. By default, everyone is set to use the "Standard Uploader". You can use the User Controls to change that to the "Flash Uploader" (nice name, lol) and we recommend you do so if it works properly on your system. When using the Standard Uploader, after you've browsed for a file (ANY file) and selected it and it appears in the file-box on the post form, YOU MUST PRESS THE "ATTACH FILE" BUTTON! You CANNOT simply press "Add Submission" (or whatever is the "Submit" choice at the bottom of the screen). If you don't press "Attach File" before "Add (whatever)", it will fail. If using the Flash Uploader: You must wait until the upload completes before pressing "Add (whatever)".
NightHawkInLight Posted March 2, 2010 Posted March 2, 2010 So is this change of domain now permanent? Do I need to update my website links page?
FrankRizzo Posted March 2, 2010 Posted March 2, 2010 Would it be possible for an admin to send a mass email to all of those members who had set the "enable email from administrators" option during their initial registration?
TheSidewinder Posted March 3, 2010 Author Posted March 3, 2010 Yes, it would be possible with a bulk mail. But there's one problem with doing that. Due to the Domain expiry it wouldn't come from apcforum.net, but rather from amateurpyro.com. That may not matter to 99.999% of the recipients, but it could get the Domain (and my entire server) blacklisted if so much as one of them clicks "Mark This As Spam" with Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, MSN, AT&T, etc, before they read the content or even the Subject. Yahoo seems to be the worst of the "Lets over-react when one our members clicks that button" mail providers, though they're not the only one who does that. But... hmmm... We could filter the mail-send to people who have been active in the last ~6 months, and is something I'll discuss with Mumbles. I'm willing to take the risk, as long as the email is specifically targeted in that manner.
shagaKahn Posted March 3, 2010 Posted March 3, 2010 Would not have realized y'all had changed addresses if not for a chance e- from someone on one of my subscribed forums. On the off chance that not everyone on APC was subscribed to something--or if they were subscribed to some obscure thread to which no one will ever respond again--has there been thought of somehow contacting all the former subscribers and letting them know of the new arrangements? You mention farther down the thread the risk of getting blacklisted for being misunderstood as spam by the big webmail houses--but I'd bet there are a fair number of us who ain't figured it out yet. As you said in the first paragraph, if we can't figure it out then we don't deserve to be chemists of any kind--much less pyro--but still I hate to think how long I'd have been off the list before someone happened to post me an e- and I wandered over here. Meantime--fukin a! We're back! None of my biz really, but just curious: we still being hosted by goDaddy? Seems like prob'ly not as hits to the old address still yield goDaddy's "expired domain name" note and surely they'd be hip enough to send us on to the right site.
TheSidewinder Posted March 4, 2010 Author Posted March 4, 2010 No, the Domain is owned by Mumbles, and the Forum is hosted for now on my dedicated server. (OK, technically the Domain is "owned" by me at the moment because I had an account with Moniker already, and that's where it's registered now. Once he gets his own account setup, I'll push the Domain to him.) Whether we ever get control of the apcforum.net Domain again remains to be seen. And we decided to send a Bulk Mail to anyone who has been active in the last 6 months, AND chose to "Receive email from Administrators" (or however that's worded in the UCP). That will happen in the next few days.
TheSidewinder Posted March 9, 2010 Author Posted March 9, 2010 Bulk Mail was sent Sunday, to people who have been active in the last 6 months. That was only 523 members, but... we'll see how many bounce back.
andyboy Posted March 9, 2010 Posted March 9, 2010 You sure had me scared there for a while, I thought the site had gone forever. I didn't get any mail but I searched for APC-forum until I found this board. Phew...
TheSidewinder Posted March 9, 2010 Author Posted March 9, 2010 If you didn't get an Email, either your email isn't valid or your ISP rejected it. Well, that, or you haven't logged in for more than 6 months.
scrappy Posted August 11, 2010 Posted August 11, 2010 Need help from admin, i have been aware of the name/domain change from when it happened but have not been able to get here until now, i have now logged through a proxy from the UK although i am in Au. Every time i put amateurpyro.com in my browser it always comes up as IE cannot display web page, i even tried firefox, turned off my fire wall and many other things like adding the site to my safe list but all to no avail, i thought my ISP may have had a filter but on contacting them they said they don't filter customer content. What else can i do, is there something you can do ? any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.Ps, i'm sure i'm not the only one.Regards Phill.
mike_au Posted August 11, 2010 Posted August 11, 2010 If you click on Start and Run (assuming you are on Windows XP or Vista) and type "cmd" (no quotes) in the box that comes up and click ok. You will get a black window come up with a "c:\something\your\username\>" prompt. At the prompt type:ping www.amateurpyro.comand press enter. You should either get a few "Reply from ....." lines or some sort of error. Let us know how that goes and then I can tell you what to check next. Who is your ISP btw?
scrappy Posted August 12, 2010 Posted August 12, 2010 If you click on Start and Run (assuming you are on Windows XP or Vista) and type "cmd" (no quotes) in the box that comes up and click ok. You will get a black window come up with a "c:\something\your\username\>" prompt. At the prompt type:ping www.amateurpyro.comand press enter. You should either get a few "Reply from ....." lines or some sort of error. Let us know how that goes and then I can tell you what to check next. Who is your ISP btw? Thanks for helping Mike, Ping request could not find host www.amateurpyro.com, is what came up, i tried with spaces and no spaces between >and ping, and ping and www. My provider is 3
TheSidewinder Posted August 15, 2010 Author Posted August 15, 2010 Scrappy, please send me a PM with the IP Address you normally use. I suspect it got into my server's Firewall block list. If it were a Board IP Ban, you'd get a #2000 error message. If it's in the firewall block list, it simply won't return ANYTHING to a ping, traceroute, etc.
Ralph Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 Why can't I start a new topic?? you can now till you are a "full member" you cant it prevents spammers and doesn't cause any problems for 99% of legitimate people as a legitimate user will usually post in existing topics before starting their own topic
Ralph Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 Scrappy, please send me a PM with the IP Address you normally use. I suspect it got into my server's Firewall block list. If it were a Board IP Ban, you'd get a #2000 error message. If it's in the firewall block list, it simply won't return ANYTHING to a ping, traceroute, etc. I have the same provider for my phone and I cant access APC unless I connect to wifi I think they have chosen to block APC
dagabu Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 I use AT&T, I need 3G to access APC but dont need wireless.
Ralph Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 No 3 is a service provider in Australia they are one of the largest mobile phone providers but have almost no presence of the internet(other than mobile internet services) or home phone sector
TheSidewinder Posted February 8, 2011 Author Posted February 8, 2011 I have the same provider for my phone and I cant access APC unless I connect to wifi I think they have chosen to block APC Ralph, visit http://www.whatismyip.com with your phone, and see what IP Address is returned. Then visit the same site thru the wi-fi you mentioned and see if it's a different IP address. IF IT IS... PM me with the IP address you use with your phone. I'll check the firewall. IF IT IS NOT... you may be right about the provider blocking, though that would surprise me.
Ralph Posted February 8, 2011 Posted February 8, 2011 Ralph, visit http://www.whatismyip.com with your phone, and see what IP Address is returned. Then visit the same site thru the wi-fi you mentioned and see if it's a different IP address. IF IT IS... PM me with the IP address you use with your phone. I'll check the firewall. IF IT IS NOT... you may be right about the provider blocking, though that would surprise me. the Ip adress with wifi is different from the one without wifi (as would be expected)
TheSidewinder Posted February 8, 2011 Author Posted February 8, 2011 It's those pesky Chinese. You got PM.
Ralph Posted February 8, 2011 Posted February 8, 2011 Thankyou very much its working perfectly now on a side note the iphone native version isn't so flash but works well none the less
Recommended Posts